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Stephen Luxion

Deputy Director, ASSURE FAA Center of Excellence for UAS

Mississippi State University

Stephen (Lux), a retired Colonel, is the ASSURE (Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence). Deputy Director, working from Mississippi State University’s Stennis Space Center Campus. He is responsible for the day-to-day administrative, financial, and technical operations of ASSURE which serves as the Federal Aviation Administration’s Center of Excellence for UAS. Lux is a 34 year US Air Force veteran with over 2,500 hours flying time in the F-111 Aardvark, MQ-1B Predator UAV; and the F-14A Tomcat and EA-6B Prowler while on exchange with the US Navy; including 700 hours combat time in operations over Iraq, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. For his combat efforts, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for Valor, 4 Air Metals, and 7 Aerial Achievement Medals. He commanded the 17th Reconnaissance Squadron, the nation’s first armed UAV squadron, the 608th Air Operations Group, the operations arm of the “Mighty Eighth,” and helped lead the establishment of NATO’s first Aerospace Center of Excellence. He retired from the US Air Force in 2014 from his last assignment at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach where he commanded the Reserve Officers Training Program.